A Ronin Tale
by AangxiousKittyCornNerd
Summary: A short story about Ronin's biological family. Meant to be cute and fluffy with a darker underside. Rated T to be safe (That darker side may have a bigger kick than I'm planning - it's happened before.)
1. Prologue

He turned, slapping my hand from his shoulder. "What do you want?" His cherry-red hat shadowed his face and effectively hid his expression from me.

"I have a job for you." The two brutes I had brought along drew near, and my audience turned as they approached from the gloom beyond the streetlight.

"What kind?"

"One that I'm certain you'll be… _interested_ in completing for us. Come!" I turned and gestured for him and my friends to follow. "All will be explained in time." With a grunt from my companions the man reluctantly followed.

We walked the two blocks to our little rebellion's home away from home, where our new friend would be inspired to his assignment. "Have a seat." I gestured to the chair nearest the door, whilst sitting down in the other.

"Why am I here?"

"Straight to business, eh?" I tsked, setting my hands on the desk between us. "I'll give it to you straight, then. We need the Ninja out of our way. Guaranteed. Permanently."

"What?!" Shock rendered on his face for a second, before he regained his calm demeanor. "I won't-"

"Relax. All we need you to do is bring one of them here, to us." I assured him. "We'll do the rest for you."

"No. Nice doing business with you, but you'll have to find someone else." He moved to get up, but my companions prevented him.

"You don't even know what we're offering yet." He flinched ever so slightly when I snapped my fingers to summon those in the back room. "You see, Ronin, we like to do our research before recruitment."

A yelp echoed from behind me and he lunged onto the desk, only to be dragged back to his seat by my friends. "Kya!"

"Uncle?" Kya's voice was as tiny and frail as she was, yet it was surprisingly hopeful for someone with a knife to their throat. I smiled, knowing what was coming next because of the agony on Ronin's face.

"Does a life for a life change your mind? Or should we have little Kya here-"

"Okay! I'll do it. You'll return her to me afterwards?"

"Of course!" I assured him. "You have three days. After that - well, accidents happen." She yelped again as the knife was shifted slightly, just enough to draw blood.

"Okay! Okay, I already agreed! Put the knife down." They did, and he walked out with his head down; dreading what he was about to do.


	2. Volunteering Issues

**A/N: By the way this takes place in between DotD and Season 7. Also I must apologize for any and all character inaccuracies.**

**Review replies: **

**Kessie-Loise: Thanks! I was actually planning on doing shorter chapters, but you inspired me to try my hand at some longer more detailed stuff. I hope it's not too short.**

I approached the Ninja team while they trained, the deck of the bounty coated in various pieces of equipment tailored to each of their elemental powers. Kai and Nya trained in target practice together - Kai lighting all of the targets on fire and Nya putting the fires out - while Cole (who had recently lost his transparency) lifted weights with Jay sitting atop them. Zane was refining his control over his elemental power, hitting targets A and C without hitting B or something like that. Last but not least we have Lloyd, who for some reason was training on some of their old spinjitzu equipment, which I fail to see why they still have - they all already know spinjitzu _and_ they could sell it for a great price. A lot more than the sorry old wood would be worth, anyway. Considering how people are freaking out about them - which is probably why they keep choosing to live in the sky - they could get up to a few million for something I would be lucky to get five hundred for.

The Temple of Airjitzu was just off to the side, rather rickety and with quite a few boxes one could see through the windows; no doubt these six were training just to get out of unpacking. Honestly, I am with them, what could possibly be the purpose of unpacking it if you're not going to sell it? It is a perfect waste of time!

_Enough standing around admiring the scenery._ Ah, yes. My old friend self-preservation, how nice of you to drop by.

Assuring myself once again that they could take care of themselves - even when separated - I approached the colorful heroes. "Hey," they all turned at the sound of my voice, surprised to see _me_. Yeah, I would not be my biggest fan either if I were in their position. "This is going to sound weird, but I need one of you to come with me."

"Why?" Lloyd seemed genuinely confused, and not nearly as wary as everyone else. Funny, seeing how he was the one who had been possessed by a bloodthirsty ghost for three weeks.

I sighed: hating to have to show weakness in front of anyone, but the knowledge that they would prefer the truth and things would probably go better for me if I did pushed me to be honest. "Long story short these guys are threatening to kill my niece if I don't bring them one of you guys. So who's it going to be?"

"You have a niece?!"

"You have a sibling?!" None of the other Ninja appeared to notice Jay's differing inquiry.

"Yes and _had_, he died five years ago. So who's gonna play the part of prisoner?"

"Wait, why should we risk ourselves for your niece?"

"KAI!"

"I'm just saying that if she's related to Ronin she can probably handle herself. OW!" I caught my hat after it rebounded off of his thick skull, and Nya doused him with water at the same time. He deserved every bit of it.

"She's six, and I would try and rescue her myself if they weren't threatening her life and expecting that from me. Now is one of you going to come willingly or not?!"

The robot of the team spoke up instantly. "I will."

"No Zane!"

"No way!"

"We've already lost you three times, we are not losing you again!"

"Yeah, let's send someone expendable, like Jay!" Jay looked severely offended by Kai's suggestion; staring at the soggy fire ninja with a look that said 'I'm going to fill you with a billion volts of electricity just because you said that'. To be honest, I was surprised that Kai volunteered anyone at all.

"You stay, Zane. I'll go. For the team."

"Lloyd -"

"No, I'm going. You can't stop me, Kai. I won't let any of you put yourselves in danger like that when I can prevent it."

"Sorry, Lloyd, but I can't let you do that." Midst the indistinctive arguing of everyone, Kai grabbed Lloyd's hood and shoved him into the nearest room on the bounty - locking the Green Ninja in there.

Nya was next to step forward. I was expecting that; luckily I was spared from telling her the promise I made to myself. She would probably hate that I was trying to protect her - partially because of her personality and partially because of it being me. Good thing she has a boyfriend and a brother to tell her off for me.

"Nya, no -"

"Do you want me to lock you in there with Lloyd?"

I slowly backed away as the fighting between their team escalated, quickly getting physical with a few people springing into bursts of colorful spinjitzu. Man, who knew those Ninja were so selfless? Seriously, I can appreciate selflessness, but that is seriously too much. Have some self preservation guys, even heroes have to take care of themselves sometimes!

"Are we going to go?" Lloyd stood in the open door of R.E.X., carefully positioned to be within my line of sight but so that his friends - even if they were looking - would fail to spot him. I was about to ask him how he got there when he supplied the explanation of "I climbed out the window."

"You sure about this? These guys don't exactly play nice. From what I've seen they seem worse than your old friend Morro." He stiffened at the familiar name, but nodded. Poor kid had no idea what he was getting himself into - unlike him I _have_ seen the likes of these before, and it's never pretty.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." I ruffled his hair - much to the kid's annoyance - and set R.E.X. to her new coordinates.


	3. Dealing

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, my mind has decided to only work on fictions that I haven't started typing up yet. I'll try to post more often!**

**Review response (because there's only one):**

**Kessie-Loise: Thank you! =) I've been studying Ninjago waaay too much, specifically when I'm supposed to be studying for school. Oh, well; it helps me write the characters at least! Enjoy!**

"We had a deal!"

"The deal's off; you of all people should have known we would keep some form of insurance." His sickeningly sweet smile made me want to punch him as he waved me off. I even stepped forward, before my eyes drifted to Kya's frightened face.

More specifically the knife that hovered hungrily beneath it.

"If she's insurance then you wouldn't kill her, would you?" I felt confident that I had seen through his deception, yet his smile never wavered.

"Of course we would keep her alive." His tone was flat, nonchalant, and condescending all at the same time. "Though if you or anyone else were to interfere we might not be able to prevent a few accidents from happening."

'Accidents', a common word for…

"Fine, I'm leaving. See?" Making a big show of it, I walked out the door; throwing my hands in the air for added 'surrender' effect.

Once outside I stared at the greying walls of the old cottage, debating my next course of action. I _could_ take their threat to heart and leave well enough alone; though honestly, anyone who would do that or would think that _I_ would do that must be out of their mind. But if I were to go straight back to the ninja they - specifically Kai - would kill me instantly. No, requesting help from those six - correction, five - would require much more finesse than simply walking straight up to them.

Whistling for R.E.X., I decided upon my next move. Not exactly the riskiest thing I could have chosen, but it will do.

*some time passes*

The police station once again surprised me by how large it was, especially considering how little it was used. Through a window on the second floor, I could barely make out the familiar shape of the commissioner painting what looked like a small wooden boat. He's still not done with that thing? What a perfectionist he must be.

I parked R.E.X. on the roof; they will not mind - and even if they do they probably cannot do anything about it anyway.

Marching inside, I approached the coffee-table brown desk and placed both hands on it's cherry top. The officer working there - a young man with a small mustache and simple hair - stared questioningly back at me.

"Arrest me." I explained.

"What?"

"Arrest me."

"I - well, why?" Flabbergasted is a word that would clearly fit this guy. Strange, a year ago the entire police force would have jumped at this kind of opportunity.

"What, do I not have enough to be convicted already on my plate? Must I add more? What do I have to do, rob a bank?!"

"Well, no; you have enough to be arrested. It's just -"

Cutting him off with a sigh, I provided more - just in case it really was necessary. "Let's just say that I may or may not have done something that helped a rising group of villains who are clearly willing to do things that are against even _my_ morals, like hurting little kids. That enough for you?" He nodded, looking kind of cornered behind the desk.

"I- I'll go get the Commissioner." He sprang from his seat and ran up the stairs, clearly relieved to get away from the crazy person in the lobby. A solid minute later my old friend the Police Commissioner sprang out of the elevator, wildly glancing around the room for me. I gave a slight wave, drawing his attention toward me.

"Ronin, you are under arrest for numerous accounts. You retain the right to remain silent, the right -"

"Yeah, yeah. Honestly you've recited those rights so many times I think that I could recite them at this point. Just get it over with."

He nodded to the original officer and motioned for a few others to join him. Flabbergasted guy chained my wrists together and the other two grasped my arms firmly, staring at old Commie for the order.

"Get him out of my sight." Cliche, he says that almost every time. The only worse things he could say would be 'take him away' or 'lock him up, boys'. The two officers began to push me down the hallway, the one on my left apologizing when he stepped on my toes.

"You might want to put me in an interrogation room!" I supplied, since these idiots probably would not even think to ask me about what I had previously mentioned. "Especially since the Ninja are probably going to want to talk to me about those _rising villains_ I mentioned to Bob over there."

"My name's not-"

"You're right. Put him in an interrogation room, boys!" Seriously Commissioner? I know you are not given many lines to work with, but do they have to be that bland? Could you have at least waited for Bob to finish telling me that his name is not Bob? Because that would have been infinitely more interesting than what you said; you are losing your touch, Commie.

Oh, well. Let the idiots be idiots. Time for me to wait for the Ninja to come and demand to know where I took Lloyd

Now that I think about it, I should find something fireproof to wear; just in case.


	4. Fires of Interrogation

**A/N: Man, I sure hope I'm writing Kai correctly; but if I'm not he was at least a ton of fun to write! **

**Review Response:**

**Kessie-Louise: Thanks. To be honest, I want to try and update weekly but I don't have enough content on the two stories that are posted; and I am a little scared to try and introduce any of my other material yet. (Although I am a little tempted to try posting the first chapter of my AU Revolutionary, just to see what happens.) On the other note, maybe 'Bob' will get a raise. ;)**

**I am sorry if this chapter is kinda short.**

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With one look at me, Kai's eyes burst into flame. Literal flame: his eyeballs were on fire - which probably was horrible for his dark brown irises. He moved toward me with one hand reached out, presumably to grab me by the shirt and sucker-punch me till he knocked me out. Luckily for my nose, Nya and Zane grabbed his arms before he even got halfway across the yard of space between us. "Let me at him!" His screech sounded like a dying monkey attempting to get revenge toward a root for tripping him.

"Look." My tone was as diplomatic as I could make it, with a hint of desperation there in order to help re-earn their trust. "If you would just listen for a moment I -"

"We already know your reason." Funny, I would have expected her brother to say that; and her tone was so spiteful!

I sighed, wondering how in Ninjago _these _idiots were such big heroes. "I know, but that's not what I'm trying to tell you." A sly smile crept across my face. "Of course, I should have expected this. With such small _lexicons _it's no wonder you can't understand a word I say."

"We do not have small lexicons!"

"Zane, what's a lexicon?" Classic Kai and Jay - one pretending they know the word and the other actually trying to find out what it means.

"The term lexicon refers to an individual's personal vocabulary."

"Oh. Okay, I thought he insulted our brains or something."

"He kinda did, Jay. And you proved him right." Thanks, Cole, for stating what should have been obvious.

"If you jokes want to keep talking fine with me. I can always show instead of tell; if you let me out of these cuffs and take me to R.E.X., that is."

"No way. Tell us first."

"If you wish." Jay gulped - apparently wishing is a difficult subject for him. Good to know. "As you might have guessed there is absolutely no way they stayed in the same building they showed me." They all nodded; except Kai, who was mutely glaring at me - at least his eyes had gone out, although his smoking fists are not exactly what I would call an improvement. "Which is why I put a tracking device on Lloyd."

All five of them stared at me for a moment, so shocked it seemed as if I had told them their green friend was dead. Even Kai had forgotten how angry he was for a second (which was good for me, as the water and ice ninjas had dropped their grip on him.) Once a slightly uncomfortable portion of silence had passed Nya finally broke it with the queries of "What if they found it? Where did you put it?"

Setting my hands on the table - stopping scratching beneath the cuffs, of course (What? I get itchy when metal starts chafing my wrists!) - I looked her dead in the eye."I," Kai still really wants to kill me for this part - but his initial reaction was priceless and I would have said the exact same thing the exact same way if I had to redo that. "Put it in his hair."

"YOUTOUCHEDHIS**HAIR**?!" Nya lept backwards as Kai burst into a pillar of flame - the top of which skimmed the ceiling of the interrogation room. The one way glass to my left started melting a little bit because of the literal hotheadedness of this guy. Seriously, just ignoring the other ninja for a moment, how in the sixteen - correction, fourteen - realms did this guy ever become a hero? In fact, how is he not a villain?

Feeling a tad indignant, and more than a little suicidal, I replied with the very idiotic guaranteed-to-get-you-killed-with-fire question of: "Would you have preferred I had put it in his underwear?" I had tried to look him in his eyes, although I only succeeded in blinding myself.

At that, he burst into spinjitzu. The table in front of me was sent flying across the room, and all the other ninja had to try and avoid it.

I really should have tried harder to find something fireproof. On the bright side the police force probably will not bolt their interrogation chairs to the floor anymore; or chain people's feet to them.


	5. Consequences

**A/N: Sorry this thing took so long. For those of you not reading my other fanfiction I have decided upon a new writing system that should put me on schedule for updating both stories every week. Hopefully it works!**

**Review Reply:**

**Kessie-Loise: Yeah, I was worried about Kai. I actually did some modifying to this chapter to hopefully better fit his personality (and everyone else's too.) I hope you like it!**

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Staring at the building I felt surprise bottling up within me that Kai had that much fire in him; the police station was just lucky that the rest of his team had come too. On the bright side I was no longer chained to a chair, although that was definitely not something that I would trade my left eye's vision for.

"You said you put a tracker on Lloyd?" Only the Ninja of Lightning would ever ask a question that had already been answered by the person he was asking it to. Okay, I take that back, that brown idiot would do it too; and somehow manage to make it even more idiotic.

"Yeah, I did."

"In his hair?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Stupid questions to which the answer should be obvious? Yep, the epitome of stupidity.

"Because, contrary to popular belief, I am not a horrible person that would just leave Ninjago without one of it's heroes for personal profit." I gave a joking half-smile. "Did you guys seriously think I was that heartless?"

"No, I was- wait, was that a joke?"

"No."

He gasped with delight. "You do have a sense of humor! GUYS! Ronin's got a sense of humor!"

"Shut up and let them finish putting out the fire, Jay."

"Okay." the blissful silence lasted only a moment. "Why is Cole helping put out the fires?"

"_Because_," I seethed at his idiocy. "Dirt can put out fires, unlike lightning."

This time his gasp was overly-dramatic. "That was a low blow!"

Rolling my eyes, I asked a question for the sole purpose of trying to get an intelligent conversation from him. "When do you think they will finally get that fire out so that I can safely call R.E.X.? You know, so that she doesn't get coated in the particles from the smoke."

"I don't know. That's where you're tracking Lloyd from though, right?"

I resisted the urge to reply with 'no, I'm tracking him from my underwear.' Through clenched teeth I managed to say "yes."

"So then what are we waiting for?!"

We both stared at him for a moment before Jay finally said "uh, for Zane, Nya, and Cole to put out the fire _you_ started, Kai."

"Oh, right." Despite his contrite body language, his eyes barely held a trace of regret.

The only good thing about the awkward conversation was that it filled the time while we waited for the fires to be put out. Surprisingly enough, the building was still standing - it was barely even charred. I was expecting it's situation to be closer to mine; where most of the pain had yet to come since the wounds were numb.

Nya and Cole were walking back over to us while Zane repeatedly apologized to Commy for Kai's behavior. Once he finally returned - and scolded Kai again for losing his temper - the entire team looked at me expectantly, so I called down R.E.X. with the signal twee-twee-twee-tewee! None of them seemed to notice the difference.

When R.E.X. got close Kai reached for the ladder, even resorting to Airjitzu when it continued to hover out of his reach. I watched as he aggravatedly followed my airship into the sky, trying and failing to grab her rope ladder. "HEY!" He glared at me once he hit the ground and R.E.X. had returned to hovering close.

"Forgetting something?" I jangled the cuffs still on my hands that - in the chaos - no one had bothered to remove; then winced and returned my hands to their position to keep the ice on my face.

"That looks nasty." _Someone_ needs to teach Jay to worry about his own looks, and not point out other people's burns that they already know probably look horrible.

Kai sighed, ignoring Jay like the rest of us, and motioned for the nearest officer to unlock my cuffs before Cole stopped him with a hand. "Wait. If you were tracking him this entire time, why did you go and get yourself arrested?"

"You saw what fire-boy did in that station, what damage do you think would have been done if I had come to the Bounty?"

After a moment of hesitation he nodded. "Good point. Officers, could one of you uncuff him?"

Good ol' Bob from when I got myself arrested waddled over to where we were and sheepishly unlocked my handcuffs, after receiving a confirming nod from the Ninja of course. I gave my normal twee-twee-tweee whistle to tell R.E.X. that she could let people get on her now.

Just to get on his nerves a little more, and get back for the burns, I told Kai that he needed to carry me.

"What?! No way! Never in a million years!"

"Well, I would climb on myself, but I got this thing to keep cool!" I pointed at my face. "And don't even get me started on what you did to my shirt and bullet-proof vest!"

They all stared at me.

"Uh, just ignore that last part." It is not like I always wear one just in case somebody tries to shoot me, I simply value safety in case a customer is extremely unhappy and wants to kill me. With a gun.

"Still, you can climb!"

"Oh, yes, with this second-degree shoulder burn and a who-knows-what-degree-but-it's-probably-something-new burn on my face I'm sure I can climb up ladders."

"Why not Jay?!"

I grinned. "Because I can't sue Jay if he doesn't."

While he was grasping for something to say to that one of his companions - who, might I add, was already on R.E.X. - glared at us. "Let's go!"

"Fine, I'll carry you. Get on my back."

"I'm sorry, what was that? I think you might have been muttering."

"Just shut up and get on already!"

Once we were all in R.E.X. I fastened a bandage to hold the ice to my face so that I could drive. "Looks like they haven't moved him in the past few hours." Good, that meant that they were most likely at their official base. Either that or they had found the tracking device and ditched it.

Honestly, I could have cared less about how near or far it was; the important thing was rescuing Kya.

Oh yeah, and Lloyd.

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**Please review!**


	6. Tracking (Idiotic Comments Included)

**A/N: I am so sorry this took so long! My only excuse is that February and March were... not the greatest of months for me. If you want to know more then... then I'd suggest looking at my vent one-shot: Broken.**

**For those of you also reading A Healing Journey that will be updated tomorrow.**

**Review Reply:**

**Kessie-Louise: Thanks! I hope Jay's just as funny, albeit Ronin might not be as snarky simply because he's trying to focus.**

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"I spy something … green!" Jay exclaimed, looking through a small telescope he got from who-knows-where. The other ninja jumped slightly, most of them looking rather hopeful; although their faces fell when he finished with "It's another tree!"

"JAY. Seriously, stop, or else I _will_ ask Wu if he can remove you from the team."

Ignoring them proved difficult, especially with the naturally whiny cadence of the one known as Jay. Not even the thought of the rapidly decreasing daylight could fully pull my attention toward my task.

The blue ninja pouted, then grinned as he glanced through his telescope again. "I spy something brown." Of course, no one tried to guess. "It's a tree!"

I closed the door in his face, but that barely deterred him. Turning the telescope on his companions he pointed it at Nya's face. "I spy something, beautiful."

"Shut up, Jay."

"Alright." He slumped, defeated.

"Oh," Cole said, a slightly sarcastic tone masking the tension in his voice. "So when your best friend tells you to be quiet you just keep on talking, but when your _girlfriend_ tells you to shut up you actually listen."

Jay balked at that. "Nya will actually enforce it." _That's _a lame defense if I ever heard one, but from what I know about them it sounds about right.

"So all MY threats are null and void, now?!"

"WELL, you sure are REALLY good at making threats that you never go through with." Like the little children they are, he stuck his tongue out.

"Like _what_?"

"That one time, two weeks ago, when I ate your cake and you said that you were going to _kill_ me; or that time I borrowed your scythe and you-"

"How about-" I interjected, hoping to stop their racket so I could concentrate "-we ride in silence before I decide to turn R.E.X. right back around, drop you idiots off, and do this by myself?!"

Thankfully, the five ninja fell silent. After a moment I relaxed ever so slightly.

That is, until the kid's tracker started moving around on my screen again. It was headed southeast, with a soft beep every 500 feet. Just as I programmed but something seemed... off. _Why would they stop and then start back up in a completely different direction? Probably a diversion or..._

"What's that noise?" Cole opened his mouth to say something (most likely derogatory or sarcastic), but Jay corrected himself first. "I mean, what does that beeping noise mean?"

"It means-"

"It _means_," I began, pointedly cutting the hotheaded fire ninja off, "you all need to shut up so I can figure out whether they're actually moving your friend or if they found the tracker." My fingers flew as line upon line of code ran across my screen. It was difficult, but I did my best to ignore the five pests behind me.

"Wait, _they_ touched his _hair_?!" Kai is _soo _annoying, why is he still on their team again? And Jay for that matter; Cole would be okay if that guy was gone. To think, I'd thought it was uncomfortable with Lloyd in the back of R.E.X. earlier. How wrong I was.

There, confirmation that it had been removed. The heat monitor (yes, I have those on my tracking devices; either you go big or you go home) detected the current surface to be around nineteen degrees Celsius, definitely _not_ the temperature of Lloyd's hair.

"What's with you and hair," In my rear-view mirror, I watched Cole flick one of the spikes on the other guy's head, "Hair Gel?" Not a half-bad insult, for a ninja.

The signal was being routed through the location where it had been stationary for a period of time. Most likely where Kya and Lloyd were; some sort of base or HQ of theirs. Whoever 'they' are: they clearly have no ties to the black markets or I would have heard bits and pieces of their plan last time I was there. Probably self-sufficient villains, which would be highly respectable in my eyes, if they weren't cowering behind a child. Literally.

"Guys, we need to focus." Smart, maybe they should call her 'the sane ninja' instead of 'the girl ninja'. But I guess 'sane' could also apply to Zane. I really should have just taken the two of them with me.

Someone was trying to get into R.E.X.'s systems, definitely through the tracker. _Crap,_ I thought _they're good._ My fingers fought valiantly against the probably older person who evidently spent their whole life with computers.

"First-Spinjitzu-Master, dang it!" I muttered not-so-quietly. My screen went blank.

A familiarly ugly face flashed onto the screen, looking half as aggravated as I was.

"Well, now do you see _why_ we kept your little niece, Ronin? Too bad it seems she didn't do her job. Maybe we should fire her."

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**I just wanted to apologize for the short chapter and thank Kessie-Louise for reviewing, your reviews make my day!**


	7. Prepare For Battle

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems like filler content... and if it seems kind of short... and that it took so long. I pro - predict - that the next chapter will actually have some fighting in it. I guess I just kinda thought 'Hey, what if we explored "alternate" weapons for the ninja as well as Ronin's personality a bit?' **

**Yeah, I don't fully buy that last bit either, which is weird because it's true. The main reason is that it took so long and seems a little off because I threw myself a bit of a curve-ball with the last chapter... that ending was not originally planned but I decided to keep it anyway.**

**Review Response:**

**Kessie-Louise: Yeah, I agree. Sometimes I feel a bit like Jay when my family goes on road trips. Don't worry about Ronin, he's gonna get back at them for annoying him in the previous chapter. ;p**

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My muscles were strangely lethargic as I stood, striding to the other side of R.E.X.. Jay was in my way, it really is not my fault he has a horrendous sense of balance for a ninja. When I reached the keypad my fingers seemed to fly, punching in the code I had typed a thousand times. It was agonizingly slow compared to the usual time it took, but my arsenal eventually draped itself along R.E.X.'s walls.

As I was exchanging my normal, stun gear, for some of the more explosive modules in my collection; the loudmouthed kid on the floor reminded me that - unlike usual - I had passengers.

"Ronin? What are you doing?"

The blue-clad boy was thin and weak - more metaphorically than physically - so I decided that if he were to be of any assistance it would be best if we avoided firearms. Maybe a taser, I would prefer something that actually killed but logically it would be the best option for the master of lightning.

All the rest could probably handle something with a bit more kick to it, the only issue was that Kai was more likely to fire on me than those we were fighting. The master of earth still seemed a little too distant to really be trusted with that kind of firepower.

Their icy friend could probably handle just about anything, but something told me that his hands were best suited for a slightly newer take on the old classic bow and arrow.

My old friend would probably be best with some kind of blade, but _someone_ besides me had to have some sort of deadly weapon, so I decided a handheld pistol would be an okay choice; she could handle it.

Back to the ever-so-difficult-to-read black-clad ninja, I debated between many different things. Everything from longswords down to axes, yet everything seemed to either fit too well or not fit at all. Out of other choices, I pulled a medium-sized sledgehammer off the wall.

Last and possibly least, the red ninja. Nothing really deadly should ever be handled by him, so I decided on a katana. A really, really dull katana. And old, it probably would break if actually used.

"Uh, Ronin… thanks but, we already have our own weapons… and they're kind of less… deadly." He was looking more at his companions' than his own. If he had been, I would have been worried for his sanity if he thought a _taser_ was deadly after all that his team had been through.

"Hey… " The hothead frantically ran his finger along the edge of his blade. "Why isn't mine sharp?!"

"To answer your question, Jay, that is their purpose."

"You mean… to aid in arresting them right? Because our weapons already do a great job of that."

A slight sigh escaped my lips. "Yes, I want to arrest them. But I want their prison to be the Departed Realm." To be honest, I would have preferred the Cursed Realm: sadly, that place was destroyed a few months ago.

For that, I got four shockingly horrified looks directed toward me. Did they really not expect this from me?

"Count me in." Huh, maybe I should have given him something sharp.

"KAI!"

"We _**DON'T **_kill people!"

"What is wrong with you?!"

"What? Nothing! Part of me just agrees that for what they've done they deserve death!"

"**WE! DON'T! KILL! PEOPLE!**"

"And why not, Jay? We're Ninja, we are literally assassins! People who sneak around and kill other people!"

At that Jay retreated, cowering behind his girlfriend. I hate to say it but, good. Hopefully that would mean the end of it, and we could just move forward with our plan.

Of course, things never go my way. Within seconds a full-blown argument had ensued. "SHUT UP!" It came out a little sharper than had been originally intended, but the point came across rather well. "We won't try _too_ hard to kill them, but if they happen to get impaled on something and end up dead it's their own fault for dying. Okay?"

Slowly - some of them more hesitant than others - everyone gave a nod of agreement.

"Alright. Let's go beat the sh-"

"SSHHHHHH!"

Really? All five? I rolled my eyes at their immaturity. "Oh, I'm sorry, are we living in a kids' show and someone just forgot to inform me that our lives are lies?"

"Just… don't swear."

"Fine." To be honest, if it had been any of the others I would have said no. "Let's go beat the shish-kebabs out of those mother… flower-bringers."


	8. Time to DIE!

**A/N: So _so_ sorry this took so long, I actually wrote this chapter and the next as the same chapter before deciding to divide them. Which comes with good news as well: the next chapter will be out a lot sooner! Sadly, with every good thing comes a bad: my combat scenes are horrendously awful, somehow worse than my regular writings. Credit for the title of this chapter goes to my little sister.**

**Wait a second, is that _two_ reviews I see? *Insert happy noises here*!**

**Review Replies:**

**Kessie-Louise: Thanks! Ronin took into account each of their weaknesses and strengths and decided the best weapon for them with only a _little_ bias. ;)**

**xxXTryMeXxx: Thank you! Here is your update! (And you're good, Honestly I'm ecstatic to get more reviews!)**

**I hope you all enjoy!**

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Outside the complex - if the ancient building had even earned such a title - we examined the difficulty of this mission. Only two guards sat outside the doors, not a camera in sight. As if the lack of surveillance failed to be stupid enough, their choice of placement was horrendous: who in their right mind chose the _bottom_ of the hill?!

This was almost too easy. Almost. A quick shot to each one's shoulder (a little closer to the edge, since the ninja are such wussies about death) and the two passed out within seconds. Wimps, probably their first time being shot.

A challenge appeared in the form of steel doors; although they were decimated in seconds by their nindroid. Inside was…

… A guy. Holding a sandwich. Looking startled - and rightfully so. Needless to say he too was 'out cold' in seconds.

With three different hallways, I bolted left. To my surprise and chagrin, the ninja decided to _all _ follow, instead of splitting up like _sensible people_. Turning the first corner revealed yet _another_ idiot who had decided the life of a villainous grunt was the life for them. To be honest, I was getting tired of all this goody-two-shoes nonsense and was ready to take them out; Although my instinctive sweeping of the leg proved much more useful, and ninja-friendly.

As we pressed onward, a small camera tucked into the ceiling caught my eye. So _someone_ here has a brain, apparently.

Again and again we encountered hostile passerby. With a little assistance, I took them out - falsely assuring my current companions that they would live. They were all rather small, with the largest gathering being that of four… until we peeked into a shockingly large room; at least, shocking in comparison to the numerous closets we had encountered.

Based on the screens, and eight adequately armed people inside, I would guess that this was their surveillance room. I would have gotten a better look, but instead decided that it might be a better idea to step to the side before my head was filled with bullets. As soon as there was a moment of pause I swooped into the room, firing right back and hoping to not hit my mostly-impervious comrade.

It was like playing whack-a-mole. The cowards hid behind overturned tables. Only popping up to fire before bobbing back down to their safe little hidey hole. The impacts echoed through me, but my vest did an adequate job at keeping me alive.

Two or three were down by the time I jumped over one of the 'barriers', kicking the first person I encountered in the jaw. She dropped her weapon, collapsing to the ground.

Precious seconds ticked by. Taking them down from behind proved much easier and quicker, as would be expected. Unfortunately, I was spotted: probably by the brainiac that had put the cameras up in the first place. I staggered at the impact, pain burned through my veins and tinted the edges of my vision red.

My left leg collapsed from beneath me; I lay there for a minute, more stunned than anything else. Not the first time Someone had shot me, and I would have been rather surprised if it was my last.

Pushing myself to my foot, I discovered that Zane had apparently taken the remainder out; with only a few small dents to show for the battle. Showoff.

The rest of the ninja had entered - apparently they had been smart enough to stay out of the battle - and were staring at the screens.

"Ronin!" Jay exclaimed, pointing at one of the screens. "We found them!"

Anger pulsed alongside the pain. "That you did," it was all I could to keep both emotions from tainting my voice, "what are you waiting for?"

Five pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. "Aren't you coming?" Kai's indifferent tone was betrayed by the slight hope that lay beneath.

"I-" These guys had freaked out at the mere _thought_ of killing someone, chances are they would freak out over a small injury like this. "I'll stay back a bit, cover our backs."

Their nindroid gave me a disapproving look before nodding to his teammates, and I was left alone to stare at the screens.


	9. A New Perspective

**A/N: I am so _so_ sorry! (although at this point I've said that so much you guys probably no longer believe me.) I really wanted to have this out on Friday, but life happened and it was such a crazy week I had my first panic attack in a mask! YAy. Hyperventilation but you can't breathe.**

**Whelp, enough about me, you guys are here for Ronin, and the Ninja, and Ro's niece, Kya! Enjoy this climax of the story (or is it?)**

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Hey, Ronin here. My perspective for this part is rather boring… so I asked the ninja for theirs. Sadly, I got Kai's:

Guilt crept down my spine as we left Ronin sitting there: we all knew he was hiding something, probably an injury. My sister kept glancing back, concern filling her eyes - and I caught Zane doing the same when he thought none of us were looking.

_A ninja doesn't leave others behind. _The words echoed in my head.

_Yeah, well, a ninja _also _protects those that can't protect themselves._ My retort was sub-par, but I really only had to convince myself. Leaving one criminal behind in order to save Lloyd _and _a kid? Pretty easy decision if I say so myself.

(Hate to interject, but I want to point out that them leaving me was _**my**_ decision, not theirs. _I_ told them to leave.)

We wandered back through the halls, following Zane past the unconscious - and possibly dead - guards we had previously encountered. Jay clung to Nya's arm - none of us know why they suddenly became a thing again, and neither of them have relented to our questions yet.

After a few turns we _finally_ encountered the group of thugs we had spotted on the cameras, who were clearly unprepared for the ninja. It was almost too easy, then again the smaller members of any villain group are usually weak. Although it would be _kinda_ nice if they actually worked a bit and _tried _to be a worthy adversary, or had some kind of attack strategy… of any kind. _Jay_ could do better.

Bursting through the door, we stared at a rather similar scene to the one we had seen on the cameras. Ronin's niece - Kya, I think - had curled into the corner, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sniffled in the corner. She looked younger than I expected - what, was she six?!

… Oh, right. She is.

In addition to severely traumatizing a little girl, Lloyd's hands had been chained behind his back - vengestone, nasty stuff. He had a split lip, black eye, and his nose looked pretty broken; any other injuries he had were concealed by his gi.

Behind Lloyd, holding him up with one hand while the other pressed a knife to his throat, stood a man even shadier than Ronin. (For the record, I am _very_ shady. I've spent years cultivating this look, this guy cannot hold a candle to my levels of shady! This guy has no right to be called 'shady', he's not even a very good villain! I mean seriously, what kind of villain takes care of their enemies _in person?!_) His face was hooded slightly, but his cold, dark eyes and cruel smile still caused my blood to boil. Behind him were six others with various levels of ominous auras, all with some kind of firearm pointed at us.

"Nice of you to finally arrive, the invitations were sent awhile ago." The flat, almost bored tone only infuriated me further; and a quick glance around revealed my friends were starting to feel the same thing. "You all made it here in one piece, eh?" In a clearly over-exaggerated shock, he glanced around the room. "Oh, no! But where's the uncle?" He returned to that unsettling smirk. "Guess we don't need the niece anymore." With a wave of his hand one of the others turned their gun on the tiny, helpless girl. He began to nod…

...It was cut off, by five rapid gunshots. Five of them - including the creep with the knife and the one about to kill Kya - all collapsed in an almost creepy unison. Zane and Nya sprang in to take out the last two. After a second we all turned to see who had helped us.

Ronin leaned against the doorway to the side, one whose route had been heavily guarded enough for us to avoid it. His leg was bandaged, although a small amount of blood seeped through the pristine cloth.

"Hey, guys."

(Yeah! That part was the best, I got to kill that crazy b...butterfly. Great, now I'm doing it on my own.)


End file.
